By Irin Loy (IRIN News)
Myanmar has bulldozed entire Rohingya villages to make
way for a massive camp at the centre of a stalled plan to house returning
refugees, an analysis of new satellite imagery shows.
One rights group describes the imagery as evidence of an
escalating push to demolish former Rohingya land and militarise vast swathes of
northern Rakhine State – the flashpoint for violence that last year drove out more than
671,000 Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh. http://www.irinnews.org/feature/2017/09/15/rohingya-refugees-overwhelm-aid-groups-bangladesh
An analysis of satellite images done for IRIN by UNOSAT;
a United Nations programme that produces humanitarian mapping, shows extensive
land clearance and new construction near Hla Poe Kaung village in Rakhine’s
Maungdaw Township. Myanmar authorities have identified the area as the site of
a planned camp that would house returning Rohingya refugees.
The imagery shows that over seven weeks, from early
January to late February, at least four villages in the area were almost
completely levelled, leaving little trace of the Rohingya homes that once stood
there. At least 110 new buildings and what appear to be two helicopter landing
pads were constructed in that time, according to the analysis, which estimated
that at least 240 hectares of land had been cleared.
The activity near Hla Poe Kaung mirrors extensive
clearance and reconstruction across northern Rakhine – part of what rights
groups say is an attempt to dramatically reshape the landscape in the aftermath
of last year’s Rohingya exodus. Amnesty International on Monday released satellite images it
said showed large-scale bulldozing and new infrastructure – including at least
three new military bases – being built around the northern townships. It also
showed roads and buildings emerging over Rohingya land and villages that were
torched and emptied last year. http://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa16/8018/2018/en/
“Burnt Rohingya homes and markets are being bulldozed,
and surrounding trees and farmland cleared away,” Matt Wells, Amnesty’s senior
crisis advisor, told IRIN. “Where Rohingya villages stood months earlier, the
Myanmar authorities are constructing new security force bases, roads, and other
infrastructure.”
Human
Rights Watch says that Myanmar authorities have cleared
more than 55 former Rohingya villages across the state in recent weeks. https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/supporting_resources/201802asia_burma_demolitionmap.pdf
Authorities in Myanmar have framed reconstruction as part
of a broader scheme to develop
the impoverished northern Rakhine region. The new camp emerging at Hla Poe
Kaung is a central part
of a controversial
repatriation plan for Rohingya refugees, which has languished for
weeks after a late January
start date fizzled. Myanmar authorities have said returnees will be
housed temporarily
in Hla Poe Kaung.
See: UN, aid groups debate Myanmar internment
plan for Rohingya refugees http://www.irinnews.org/news/2017/10/20/un-aid-groups-debate-myanmar-internment-plan-rohingya-refugees
But the satellite images show parts of the Hla Poe Kaung
camp are built directly over the remnants of Rohingya villages that were
damaged or destroyed during last year’s violence. Rights groups and Rohingya
refugees in Bangladesh say Myanmar’s military and neighbouring ethnic Rakhine
villagers torched homes and killed civilians, emptying the state’s northern
townships of most of its former Rohingya inhabitants. Myanmar authorities say
the military was responding to attacks on border outposts by a group of
Rohingya fighters.
Destroyed areas in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and
Rathedaung Townships of Rakhine State in Myanmar http://www.unitar.org/unosat/node/44/2727
The widening footprint of the Hla Poe Kaung repatriation
camp shown in satellite images aligns with on-the-ground reports from Rohingya
who had been living in the area until mid-January, according to the Arakan
Project, a rights monitoring group. Sources told the group that 12 families
were living under plastic tents on the site of their former homes, which had
been razed in last year’s violence. Later in January, however, authorities
pushed the remaining families out by force, according to Chris Lewa, the
group’s director.
“Authorities first informed villagers that there will be
a camp for returnees in Hla Poe Kaung,” Lewa told IRIN. “They brought
bulldozers to level the ground and destroy whatever was left standing after the
arson attacks, including mosques and trees in the people’s yards.”
Myanmar authorities have refused to allow independent
investigations into last year’s violence and continue to place heavy
restrictions on aid groups operating throughout Rakhine. The UN’s refugee
agency, UNHCR, says it has been barred from accessing the worst-hit parts of
northern Rakhine since last August, when Myanmar’s military crackdown began.
Across the border in Bangladesh, hundreds of thousands of
refugees remain thronged in cramped settlements. Aid groups say the looming
cyclone and monsoon seasons pose a grave risk to people in those sprawling
camps.